In computer systems, communications systems, and similar systems, a user may invoke an task and then be required to wait while the task is processed. The user typically has little or no control over the task during this processing or wait time. Further, the user often has little information as to the status of completing the task. A typical example is an attempted connection to an Internet web site. Such connection may take a long time, and ultimately may not be successful. The only status the user may receive is a spinning globe icon. If the user elects to halt processing of the task (e.g., halt the attempt to connect to the Internet web site), the user may not be aware of the affect such an action might have on other processes and tasks. Other examples include copying or printing files. A bar graph may indicate approximate completion of a copy request, and a printer icon with numbered pages might indicate the number of pages sent to a printer buffer. Other application programs may present a hourglass icon to indicate that some processing task is occurring. Such application programs generally inhibit any user interaction with the application program during the time the hourglass icon is present. Furthermore, these application programs usually do not provide any additional status information, such as time remaining for the task, and similar task status information. A utility program that does provide task status information may lack several desirable features. For example, the utility program may not indicate the effect of closing or stopping the task, may not provide for interaction with the user, and may not have a time out feature.